Wed 20 to Thu 28Feb 2013

US Trade Rep Ron Kirk leaves administration

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk is set to leave the administration. The departure is not surprising as he told President Barack Obama of his intentions shortly after
the re-election in November.

Kirk, who has headed the agency since March 2009, was elected in 1995
as the first African-American mayor of Dallas. He left that job in 2001
in an unsuccessful bid for the US Senate in 2002.

He is expected to join the private sector in Dallas.

Among the names mentioned to succeed him is Fred Hochberg,
a businessman who had been acting Small Business Administration chief
in the Clinton Administration and is now chairman of the Export-Import
Bank. Another hot name in the race is that of Francisco Sanchez
,
currently Commerce undersecretary for international trade and former assistant secretary of transportation in the Clinton
administration.